There was an interesting story in the PJ Star last week about a Dutch artist who painted three murals on the exterior walls of two businesses here in town. The artist’s name is Ard Doko and in the article there’s some really cool photos by Ron Johnson of Ard painting the mural on the side of the C.T. Gabbert Remodeling And Construction building. The only problem I had with the article was that they didn’t have any photos of the other mural Ard painted which is on the side of The Chef & The Baker building. So I thought I’d go and take photos of both murals and maybe even get a cupcake while I’m at it! So here we go!

The First Two Murals At C.T. Gabbert Remodeling And Construction

Okay, here we are at the C.T. Gabbert building where the PJ Star took the photos of the murals painted on this outer wall. Let’s take a closer look at both of them.

Here’s the first one. Ard Doko really has a nice style of art. It’s kind of a combination of graffiti styled street art with an equal part of portrait art. His signature is at the bottom of the artwork.

This is the second mural he painted for the side of the C.T. Gabbert building. Very cool!

If you’ve never seen this building, you should definitely come and check it out. In addition to the new murals, there’s other artwork and unique things to be seen here. Some of it can be seen through this handy-dandy view-finder in the corner of the parking lot. Let’s go take a closer look at some of the artwork out here.

There’s three other paintings on the side of the building along with swinging painted tires that are flower holders.

I love the birdhouses here and the apartment building for them is genius. And the rent is “cheep.” Ha ha ha! There’s also a free book library here too. You can take any book for free and you can also drop off a book if you’d like.

Check out this car that’s equal parts hippy-trippy art, flower pot and a tribute to the World Series winning Cubs!

I went inside to look for the owner, Chuck Gabbert and ran into the C.T. Gabbert guard dog and got a nice portrait of him posing for the MBIP Camera. Then I went to the back and got a photo of Chuck. We had a nice conversation about the murals and Peoria and then it was time to go to the other mural that the PJ Star neglected to take a photo of!

The Third Mural At The Chef & The Baker

Here we are at The Chef & The Baker. Now where’s that mural at?

Well it would be right here on the side of their building. This is really a cool mural here and I think it’s great of both of these businesses to let art be a part of their building. This, like the others have the Doko signature at the bottom of the artwork. Very nice!

I had to stop in and say hi to the Chef and the Baker and here they are behind the counter. That’s Ian, the Chef and Karen, the Baker. They’re such nice people and the food here is so delicious. If you haven’t been here for lunch or an early dinner, you should stop in and sample the sandwiches and salads here. And they also have...

The best cupcakes in town! These are all made from scratch on the premises and they are so delicious! It was hard to pick one, but I decided to have the red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

This was so rich, decadent and tasty! If you haven’t had one of these you have to stop by and have a sweet taste treat!

And there’s more art inside of here! This is a mural done by well-known local artist, Devin McGlone. It’s a Batman styled piece of art featuring Ian, Karen and their two children. I love it! Thanks to both C.T. Gabbert and The Chef & The Baker for allowing their businesses to be canvases for original artwork that brightens up this city! We’ll see you all tomorrow!

Let's hit up Magnolia and mack on some cupcakes...

Surprise link, click on It...I dare you!